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| THE SUN LEE SUNBEAM are not mods, punks, glam, goths, emo, new wave, hipsters or scenesters. They're not Samoan, Svengali, and they don't speak Swahili. They're not retro, nu, or glow-in-the-dark–although one of them may or may not sleep with a nightlight. The point is, they’re not trying to be the cool kids or have you believe they’re too cool to be cool. They know where it’s at, and where it’s at is in the heart of the music they create together.
THE SUN LEE SUNBEAM is fronted by Jessica Sun Lee on vox and rhythm guitar, with Mary Flatley on bass and BV’s, Jeff Clarke on drums, and Mike Ward on second guitar. In their short time together, they have built a small arsenal of songs–written by Jessica and brought to life by Mary, Jeff, and Mike.
So, what’s with the sunbeam, you say? Well, there’s a moment in everyone’s life when it pivots from existence and observation to full on consciousness. For Jessica, that moment was at the ripe age of three when a powerful sunbeam shot through her window and woke her on contact. She sat up, gazing into that blinding pool of light and finally knew what it felt to really be alive, feeling, believing, aware of herself and the life all around her. Anything was possible. But, as time can twist to make you bitter and burnt, she lost that feeling for a couple of decades. Until one morning when it broke into her apartment window and found her once again. In lieu of pressing charges, she picked up the guitar and started writing.
The music is about simplifying the complexities of life. It’s about throwing a wild party for the people in your head, the metamorpheses we go through every breath, every hour, everyday. It’s about taking a handful of troubled thoughts and throwing them into the air like hot pink confetti. Ranging from serious and soulful to cynical and rambunctious, they maintain substance with a sly grin, hard-wired to the varying degrees of humanity.
A former three-piece variation of the band (see 'music' for more info) released its debut, "Look for the Light" on June 7th, 2008. On October 16th, 2009, they release the full-length, more diverse and textured album "Beneath the Burning Sky". |
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UP-CLOSE AND OH-SO-PERSONAL |
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Aside from banging on the bass and singing soulful harmonies, Mary Flatley is a professional photographer, avid bicyclist, and iPhone cover embroiderer. She has a black cat named Joan Jett and an incredible aptitude for belching. She joined the band as the drummer in April of 2007 because, yes, she's just that badass. Her transition onto the bass was with a 5-string with the top string removed. That was after she mud-wrestled the prior bassist, Cindy Staton, and won. But she never gloated. |
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If there's a man who wears many hats, it's this guy–Jeff Clarke–and we're not just talkin' about those Beer Bong Hats with 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' written across the front. Not only is Jeff a multi-instrumentalist with his own record label (Sexy Perv), but he was once a stand-up comic in the Greater Boston area. Jeff joined the band as the trianglist in October of 2008, but we quickly moved him onto the drums because he refused to show enough leg anyway. He has a strange–but noteworthy–obsession with various meat rub products and Mr. T. |
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And for as many hats as Jeff wears, Mike Ward battles him with pedals. Although his setup is known for communicating with aliens from galaxies far, far away one amazing night on Denby St., he opts for tasteful textures and catchy melodies since that traumatic event. Mike joined us late January of 2009 and played a 15 song show with us three weeks later. He might or might not be constructing a small army of Sun Lee Sunbeam-impersonating action robots. (Yikers!) He also does an unmissable Bee Gees set at Karaoke. |
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Since everybody made fun of her low, froggy voice as a child, naturally, Jessica Sun Lee decided to sing. You know how animals and plants develop offensive biological mechanisms for survival? Then you're on the right track. Aside from writing songs and shamelessly molesting her guitar, she likes to write fiction novels, paint disturbing scenes from dreams and/or possible past lives, and blaze through the city on her Yamaha Vino. Her brother, Jeffrey, bought her her first guitar one Christmas. |
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Headshots and band photo by rock photographer extraordinaire Liz Linder. |
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